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LATAM Conference illustrates consensus on Venezuela: isolation hasn’t worked
Brazil’s Lula criticized for Maduro comments, but even critics acknowledge previous policy has failed — and hurt Venezuela’s neighbors
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For the first time in 9 years, presidents and representatives from 12 South American countries gathered in Brazil for a summit on Tuesday, at the invitation of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as part of his efforts to revive the regional bloc previously known as the Union of South American Nations, or UNASUR.
The international reunion generated headlines and criticism over Lula’s warm reception of Venezuelan President Nícolas Maduro. But the summit also illustrated a harsh reality: the regional consensus among Latin American countries is that efforts to isolate and destabilize the autocratic government of Maduro have failed — the president has emerged from years of sanctions more secure in his power than at arguably any point in his ten-year rule.
